Court Campany
03 June, 2021

About me


  • Assistant Professor, Shepherd University


  • Plant Ecophysiologist
    • climate change, physiology, evolution
  • Ecosystem Ecologist
    • global change


  • twitter: @court_campany

Experience with the landscape nursery industry

  • Post-doctoral position in collaboration with Hort Innovation Australia
    • Understand the role of root:shoot balance for landscape trees
    • Evaluate the national standard for growing landscape trees


  • Year-long campaign to measure key traits for trees tagged as ’ready to sell"
    • 23 nurseries across Australian climate regions
    • 14,000 trees surveyed nation-wide
    • 18-3000 liter containerized trees tested

    • 150 species measured


  • Outcomes: Delivered data-driven suggestions for better criteria to test Australian tree stock sold for landscape plantings
    • Current standards to restrictive
    • Trees are too often rejected
    • NEW national standard adopted

Experience in tree physiology


  • Research career has explored how plants make food (photosynthesis) across multiple themes
    • global change (Eucalyptus)
    • evolution (Ferns)
    • stress (Common Milkweed)


  • Integrated plant hydraulics (water supply and transport) into recent research


  • The urban environment makes all these processes harder for trees!!!

Why urban trees matter


  • Healthy trees are integral to sustainable urban landscapes now and in the future.


  • Never before have trees received the current level of attention as key component of sustainable urban design, delivering substantial benefits to ever growing cities.


  • Services = cooling, storm water mitigation, carbon sequestration, improving air quality, biodiversity and property value
    • make cities more liveable

Why physiology matters for urban trees

The urban enivronment is an ecophysiological challenge


  • Informative sources for managing urban trees are numerous
    • planting guides
    • maintenance plans
    • species choice


  • None are directly related to tree physiology!!
    • mostly symptom based


  • Shouldn’t we first understand how trees must alter their physiology to these stresses?
    • nursery → site planting → recovery → establishment and growth

Charles Town as a research site for novel urban tree research

  • Models predict West Virginia could increase by 3 °F in winter, spring, and summer & 4 °F in fall by 2100
    • new stresses for animals and plants


  • More trees is an obvious local health benefit


  • There is an important knowledge gap


  • PLAN: Track and monitor aspects of physiology from nursery to establishment for newly planted urban trees in Chalestown, WV
    • Planting site with sufficient impervious surfaces
    • Control site without (park)
    • Utilize WV Forestry Demonstration Grant